Whisper Tales of Gore
by WinterSky101
Summary: Thor doesn't know what the ship in front of them means, but he catches the second of pure, unadulterated terror on his brother's face, and he knows it isn't anything good. Post-Ragnarok AU. First in "Valhalla, I Am Coming."


**Title comes from Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song."**

 **This fic is not compliant with the Infinity War trailer and makes no attempts to be. There is one line that speaks of suicidal ideation in this fic, which is from a memory. It's the fourth italicized line, if you want to skip it.**

* * *

Space is, Thor must admit, rather beautiful. It's not as beautiful as Asgard, but Thor has yet to find a place that is. Still, it is amazing. Now that he's among them, Thor can see why Jane always loved the stars so much.

He's not sure how long he's been staring out into space when Loki steps up next to him. He's not sure how long Loki's been in the room either; for all he knows, Loki was there first and is only now showing himself. Thor waits for Loki to say something, but he doesn't, and for a while they just stare out at the stars together.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go back to Earth?" Loki finally asks.

"Yes, of course," Thor replies. "People on Earth love me. I'm very popular."

"Let me rephrase that," Loki says, his voice dry. "Do you really think it's a good idea to bring _me_ back to Earth?"

He may have a point. "Probably not, to be honest," Thor admits. "I wouldn't worry, brother. I feel like everything's gonna work out fine."

The words have barely left his lips before an enormous ship appears in front of them. It looks fairly ominous, but Thor knows they need supplies, so perhaps they can find something to trade. He looks over at Loki, about to ask if there's a manifest on the ship that he can look over, but the words die in his throat.

He has never seen his little brother look so scared.

"Loki?"

"He found me."

"Who found you? Loki, who is this?"

Loki looks up at Thor. He's been able to regain some control over his expression, but his eyes are still too wide, and most of the color has drained from his face. "I can't-" he whispers, then he looks down at his hands. "Thor, do you trust me?"

Loki asking that has never, in Thor's experience, meant anything good, but this panic seems to visceral to be faked. "Yes."

Loki raises his hand and presses his palm to Thor's forehead, and-

 _-you are falling you are falling youarefalling-_

 _-you fall and fall and fall you have been falling for minutes hours days weeks months years decades centuries eternity-_

 _-you are still falling there has never been a time when you have not been falling there will never be a time when you are not falling-_

 _-you will fall until you land there is nowhere to land you will fall until you die you want to die you want to_ die _-_

 _-there is no land there is nothing you will never land-_

 _-you hit something and you're moving far too fast and the pain rattles through every bone in your body but at least that means you have a body at least this means you can feel at least this means you've landed-_

 _-you are not alone-_

 _-there are creatures here and they drag your battered body across the ground and bring you to a throne and throw you in front of it and you should stand it hurts to move you cannot move-_

 _"and who is this?"_

 _-you cannot move you cannot speak you do not know what is happening you do not know where you are you do not know who this is you can barely think straight-_

 _"an obstinate one, then."_

 _-your mind explodes with pain and there is something else in there there is someone in your mind you cannot stop it you cannot let this happen you must fight you cannot fight you have to do something-_

 _"i see we are in the presence of royalty. tell me, loki of asgard, will you kneel to me?"_

 _-you are loki of asgard you are a king you were a king you should be king you will not kneel-_

 _"i see. perhaps we can convince you otherwise."_

 _-you are dragged away and you are chained up and you are whipped and you have not felt anything in so long and now you feel so much and you relearn how to use your vocal cords when you remember how to scream-_

 _-you are thrown into a cell and you lie on the ground and breathe through the pain once you remember how to breathe-_

 _-it is not the worst pain you have ever felt but you have felt nothing for an eternity and you can barely remember what it is to feel and now you feel everything-_

 _-the days blend together and you do not know how long you have been here have you ever been anywhere but here were you made in the void were you made here what are you where are you from-_

 _"will you kneel to me now, loki of asgard?"_

 _-you are loki of asgard you are loki of asgard you are loki of asgard you will not kneel-_

 _"i see we will have to try harder."_

 _-there is something in your head it is trying to twist your will you will not be manipulated you are a king you are loki of asgard you will not be manipulated-_

 _-you are dragged away and put into a new cell and it is hot inside it is so hot you are burning you would scream but you are too weak to move-_

 _"will you kneel to me now, loki of asgard?"_

 _-you will not kneel you will not kneel-_

 _-you are beaten you are whipped you are thrown into your too-hot cell-_

 _-your mind is invaded again and again until your resistance crumbles-_

 _"will you kneel to me now, loki of asgard?"_

 _-you were a king you will not kneel you are loki of asgard you will not kneel-_

 _"will you kneel to me now, loki of asgard?"_

 _-you will not kneel you will not kneel youwillnotkneel-_

 _"will you kneel to me now, loki of asgard?"_

 _-you are hurting you are too hot you are weak your mind is falling apart you are falling apart you have no energy left to resist-_

 _"will you kneel to me now, loki of asgard?"_

 _-you fall to your knees-_

 _"yes."_

Loki's hand pulls away from Thor's forehead, and Thor has to fling a hand out to catch himself on the wall before he collapses. "Loki-"

"That's Thanos' ship," Loki says, his voice just barely trembling. "He found me."

"Loki-" Thor says again, not quite sure how he'll continue. He has a million questions, but he knows it's not the time to ask them. Still, there are things he wants to know, chief among them why Loki didn't tell anyone about all this. He's not quite sure how to judge time in the memory - he seemed to watch for minutes, but judging by his surroundings, only seconds passed - but he knows that Loki fell for what felt like an eternity, and then he was tortured for months, at least. Less than year passed for Thor between the moment when Loki fell from the Bifrost and the moment he appeared on Earth, but his time on Sakaar has taught Thor that time moves differently in the Void and in the places between the realms. It seems that much more time passed for Loki that did for Thor. If he'd just _said_ something, maybe things would have been different, but…

It's not the time for might-have-beens. If this ship truly does belong to Thanos, and he's here for Loki, then Thor needs to act.

"What can we do? Can we fight him off? Does this ship have weapons?"

"We can't fight him," Loki replies, shaking his head. "He'll kill everyone on board."

Thor will not lose the last of his people. "There must be something we can do."

Loki swallows hard. "There might be." He holds his hands out in front of him and starts to move them in a way that Thor knows means he's doing complex magic. Green light starts to glow between his palms.

"I took the Tesseract while I was in the vault," Loki says in a rush.

"Loki!"

"I had to," Loki snaps. "If I had left it there, it wouldn't have been destroyed with Asgard. It would have been left floating in space, ready for anyone to pick up. Thanos cannot be allowed to get his hands on it."

"So is that why he's here?" Thor asks, trying not to sound too accusing.

"No," Loki replies, still moving his hands. The light is brighter and bigger now, and starting to take shape into something rectangular. "I've hidden it away in the folds of the universe."

"You've _what_?"

"It's a simple enough spell, once you get the hang of it," Loki dismisses. "But Thanos cannot use it to track us, because it's not really with us. And we must keep it away from him."

"So what are you doing?" The light has grown even more, and it seems to be in the shape of a small chest.

"Give me a second," Loki mutters, his brow furrowing in concentration. He twists his hands sharply and a blinding green light flares through the room. When it dies down, there's a small green and gold chest floating between Loki's hands.

"Take it."

"Loki-"

"Thor, we don't have time for this. _Take it_."

Thor reaches out and takes the chest. It glows gold for a moment, then the light dies down and it just looks like a plain chest, if a bit heavy for its size. "Loki, what is this?"

"It's the Tesseract," Loki replies. "Or a pathway to it, at least. It's still not really here. But now the only path to it is through that chest, and the chest can only be opened by you."

Thor looks at the small chest dubiously. "What do you mean, the only path to the Tesseract is through this chest?"

"Suffice to say, if you open it, the Tesseract will be there," Loki replies. "But if you open it, Thanos will be able to track you. You must promise me that you won't open it, Thor. No matter what."

"Loki-"

"Swear it to me, Thor," Loki says. There's desperation in his voice and fear in his eyes. "Thanos must not get the Tesseract."

"I will not let him get it," Thor promises. "But-"

Loki looks out the window. Thor follows his gaze and sees that the massive ship has drawn closer to them, almost close enough for their ship to dock at its airlock. "I'm sorry, Thor," Loki says, and Thor's blood runs cold. "I would have liked to have stayed. Once the ship is clear, get away as fast as you can."

"Loki-"

"Do not give Thanos the Tesseract, no matter what he promises." Loki looks at Thor with the slightest hint of a sad smile on his face. "He won't keep his word, and I'm not worth it anyway."

"Loki!" Thor yells, but the apparition fades away and Loki is gone. But then, he must have been gone for a while, although Thor can't quite pinpoint when…

When Loki made the chest and the light flared. He must have left then. And judging by what Loki said, he seems to be leaving to do something incredibly noble and monumentally stupid. Thor drops the chest, which lands with a heavy thunk, and runs to the door. Their ship will reach the other ship's airlock in a moment, but if Thor can just get there before they meet-

But when he runs out the door, he finds himself entering the same room from the door at the other end.

"No, Loki, _no_ ," Thor growls, turning around and going back out the second door. He reenters the room through the first. "This is not time for your tricks, brother!" he yells. There's no answer.

This isn't the first time Loki has used this spell on Thor. Thor remembers him doing it once when they were children and Loki enchanted a long hallway so every door simply led back into the hallway through another door. Thor tried door after door for almost an hour before Frigga figured out what was going on and made Loki reverse the spell. Thor hadn't been amused then, and he's even less amused now. He needs to get to Loki, he needs to stop him from giving himself up to this Thanos, he needs to figure out what to do to keep his brother safe.

No matter what door Thor leaves through, he always ends up in the same room. He checks the window between tries. As long as the airlocks are still attached, he's got a chance.

Thor's not quite sure how many times he's tried to get out of the room and failed when he checks the window and the airlocks are detaching. "Loki!" he bellows, slamming a fist into the window. The other ship begins to drift away, and Thor is filled with a horrible, bone-deep certainty that Loki is on board it.

"Thor!" Valkyrie races into the room. "What was going on? I was in the hallway and it just wouldn't end. What was that other ship?"

"You could get into the room," Thor breathes, and before Valkyrie can say anything, he turns and sprints out, racing down to the airlock. Loki won't be there, he's almost entirely certain, but he has to check.

"Thor!" Valkyrie calls. "Thor, what happened?"

The hallway around the airlock is empty, and Thor knows Loki is gone.

"We need to get out of here," he says, his voice dull. "We need to go as fast as we can."

"Thor-"

"Go find Heimdall," Thor says. "Get us out of here. We need to head to Midgard as quickly as possible."

Valkyrie looks at Thor for a long moment, then she turns and runs off. Thor stares out the airlock, watching as Thanos' ship gets farther and farther away.

He'll get the ship away, like Loki told him to. He'll get his people to safety. He won't open the chest that holds the Tesseract, and he won't let Thanos get it.

But once his people are safe, he's going to rescue Loki, and he's going to rip apart anyone who dared to touch his brother. Thanos will be the first.


End file.
